We recently came across this article in Food Safety Magazine written by Gina R. Kramer, dealing with leadership in the Food Safety field. When reading it, a few nuggets of advice really stood out, which we’d love to share with you in this post.

Experience in the field is more valuable than a degree

Working on the floor, or any place where the actual food you’re ensuring the safety of is being handled, can teach you more than you think. You learn how the measures your food safety department decides on are being implemented. Theory becomes practice, and you’ll learn what works and, crucially, what doesn’t. Additionally, the people working at that level will respect and uphold the safety measures that much more because they know you know what you’re talking about. You’ll need to do everything you can to decrease the distance between policy that comes from ‘up there’, and where the actual food is being handled. Being in that place is the best (and perhaps only) way to achieve that.

Substantially improve your communication skills

Being able to communicate goes beyond being able to express yourself clearly. You’ll need to develop your emotional intelligence so that you can communicate effectively on all levels. The whole company needs to be involved, so you need to communicate with everyone. Your words matter, so consider: how are your words being delivered? How’s your body language? Can you read everyone else’s? Can you tell when your audience is being receptive, or when they’re mentally checking out because you’re losing them with scientific babble? There’s so much to communication, so improve your emotional intelligence by reading up on it. Emotional Intelligence 2.0 is a start!

Step outside of your niche

Have a look at what the other departments and business units are up to, and learn their ‘business speak’. In food safety, it’s tempting to stick to your own jargon because that’s what you’re trying to teach everyone about. But it can get you stuck in a loop where all you’re doing is be enveloped in your own expertise, surrounded by what you know best. Food safety as a whole, however, is a company effort. So go talk to all other departments, and learn the way they talk, what is their language? How can you relate what they do to what you’re doing? You want to share your message, so let them share theirs. Especially when you can translate your goals to goals that other departments can relate to: how will improved food safety save costs? How does it improve your company’s reputation? This is how you reach a shared goal.

Look at how others are doing

Within your company, your colleagues are trying to improve business, just like you. So what are they doing that you can take and put in practice in your own department? What leadership practices can work for you? Likewise, look at how other companies are doing, and share as many ideas as possible with other professionals in the field. Safety is not something that should be competitive, we’re talking about global health here, not stock markets. Food safety benefits us all, so if professionals in the field can share best practices, we’re heading into a brighter future.

These are some key insights we took from the article linked above, what are your thoughts? What are the key ways to improve as a food safety leader according to you? We’d love to hear your insights!